Of course it's fiction, but the author of the book claims it's based on verifiable facts. A statement to that effect is printed in the forward of the book, and every word of it is a flat out lie.
His book is not only diabolical fiction, it's an intentional, direct attack on the faith of new or experienced but weak Christians who aren't well grounded in the truth of the biblical Gospel message. Already many such people are going to their priests or pastors saying that they no can longer believe in the divinity of Christ or the veracity of holy scripture. And that's not to mention the thousands of people who were on the verge of becoming Christians, but who are now confused and unsure of what to believe about Jesus Christ and his church. That is exactly what the atheist enemies of Christ and his church wanted to see happen when this book was published, and it is happening in every nook and corner of the US.
It's a free country, or so I hear, and Mr. Brown is free to write just about anything he chooses and Hanks can defend Brown's lies and slanderous attacks on the church and it's divine Head to his heart's content. But don't expect those of us to whom Jesus Christ is not only God incarnate but also the most important and beloved human being to ever walk on planet earth to cheerfully go along with the unchurched crowd and applaud a book and film which defames the holy character and profanes the name of the resurrected Son of God who willingly gave his life by way of a horribly brutal Roman crucifixion to save other men and women from eternal death.
But even if Jesus Christ had not been who he claimed to be, but only an outstandlingly good man who had more influence for good in the world than any other human who ever lived, Brown's lies would still be reprehensible. Would any respectable author write a slanderous attack piece disguised as a novel about some great humanitarian such as Dr. M.L. King or Albert Schweitzer, fully intending to cause it's readers to lose faith in those men's character and virtues? I don't think so, and if he or she did the people would reject it out of hand. Why is it that a slanderous attack on Jesus Christ's divinity and a pack of vicious lies about his church is the entertainment coup of the decade, while another book and film attacking another great but lesser man would not make the tiniest splash in the public's collective mind? Maybe it's because the proposition that there really is a higher authority than man's own fallible human mind, and that men and women will eventually be held accountable for their deeds and misdeeds by that authority is too frightening to contemplate for those who live only for their own pleasure and benefit.
Well said.
I am not disagreeing that DVC is an attack, but I think that it is more on the human "Church" than it is on Jesus Christ himself. And the "Church" itself down through history has always been Christianity's weak spot, because it is made up of men, not gods. Brown plays on that common feeling about the "Church".
I think it is absoulutely wrong of him to cloak this whole thing in a way that claims that the book or movie contains Truth. He sort of implies that the book is Fiction because the actual murder mystery story is made up, but that the historical and religious framework is accurate.